The present invention relates to a cardboard container for compacting and to a method of using this container.
The compacting of products, such as hospital, domestic or such like refuse, in order to reduce its volume and make it easier to handle and store it, involves the following operations:
the placing of an open container from above into a closed appliance called a compactor,
the at least partial filling of the container with products to be compacted,
the compression of the products by means of a hydraulic or electronic jack which lowers into the container the horizontal pressing plate of an area slightly smaller than that of the bottom of the container, until the volume of the products has been reduced, for example, to one third of the initial volume,
the depositing of new products on the compacted bed followed by a new compacting, until the container is substantially full of compacted product.
In some embodiments, the container is lined on the inside with a plastic bag before it is filled, and at the end of the operation the plastic bag is removed together with the compacted mass which it contains.
In other embodiments which conform more closely to the regulations relating to hospital waste, the container is made of cardboard. It is fully lined with a plastic bag on the inside, but after compacting the cardboard container is discharged without removing the plastic bag from it, after equipping it with a cardboard cover.
The container body is produced in a conventional way from a blank which is folded and glued or stapled to form a rectangular cardboard tube equipped with flaps which are fastened by means of adhesive tapes to form the bottom.
This solution is more satisfactory than the first in terms of pollution, because the accidental bursting of the plastic bag has no serious consequence, except when the adhesive tapes do not ensure perfect sealing, in which case the liquids can escape. However, it is more complicated to use and costly.
The object of the present invention is to provide a container which has the advantages of stability and sealing of a cardboard container lined with a plastic bag, without having its complicated use, and which is of a relatively low cost price.
The invention therefore provides a cardboard container for compacting, composed of a body and a cover, the body being formed by folding a single blank and the cover being formed by folding another single blank, the particular features of which are that the blank for forming the body comprises a rectangular or square central panel to form the bottom, four front or lateral panels to form the sides, each connected to one side of the bottom by means of a folding line, and four corner panels, each adjacent to two lateral sides and foldable on themselves along a diagonal passing through an apex of the bottom panel, these corner panels having cutouts intended for constituting handles for handling the container after folding, the blank also possessing two foldable flaps on the outer edge of two mutually opposite lateral panels, these flaps being intended to be folded round the handles in order to retain them against the side carrying the flap, and the blank for forming the cover comprises a central panel of dimensions equal to or slightly smaller than those of the bottom panel of the container body, so as to be capable of entering the body forcibly, the central panel of the cover also carrying, on each of the two opposite sides, a foldable flap intended to be folded round the corresponding flap of the body and to be inserted by means of its end between the side of the body and the noted flap of the body, in order to retain it in turn.
The special structure of the container, with a bottom integral with the four sides and with the corner panels, ensures that there can be no escape of liquids as long as the container is intact and has suitable impermeability. To achieve this, the container is preferably made of cardboard rendered impermeable or plasticized on the outside and/or on the inside. Suitable grades of cardboards are on the market at the present time.
On the other hand, the lateral handles, whilst assisting handling, reinforce the sides of the container. Finally, the cover, locked by means of its flaps, does not risk being removed in an undesirable way.
Preferably, the sides of the body which do not carry the noted flaps, on their edge opposite the bottom, carry second smaller flaps intended to be folded inwards and having projections intended for penetrating into notches or holes in the cover after the latter has been driven into the container, so as to lock the noted second flaps and the noted cover.
This arrangement, by securing the cover of the container body on four sides, strengthens the container for the transport of the compacted product and effectively prevents any opening of the cover as a result of the deformation of the latter and/or of the container body. In this case, the cover advantageously has second flaps intended to be inserted between the corresponding side and the second flap carried by this side, the noted holes in the cover, which are intended for receiving the projections of the second flaps of the sides of the body, being provided on the corresponding folding lines or near these.
The result of this arrangement is that it further improves the sealing and security of closure of the cover without any additional complication in use. At the same time, it increases the rigidity of the edges of the container body.
The invention also provides a method of using the container according to one of the preceding claims, involving the following steps:
the formation of the container body from a blank received flat, by bending the front and transverse panels, and the formation of the handles together with the winding of the corresponding flaps,
the introduction of the container body, open at the top and one of the handles at the front, into a compacting machine comprising a containment limited by three vertical walls and a door, this door being arranged so as to keep itself firmly up against a front wall of the container when the opposite front wall bears on the bottom of the container, this compacting machine also possessing a vertically moveable pressing device intended for carrying out the compacting and at least one device capable of moving one of the lateral walls of the containment,
the clamping of the container between the two lateral walls of the containment and between the door and the bottom of the containment,
the introduction of products to be compacted into the container, followed by the compacting of these products, these operations being repeated several times, if necessary,
the placing of the cover on the container,
the driving of the cover into the container by means of the pressing device, until the second flaps of the cover, if there are any, pass under the second flaps of the container body, and the release of the pressing device in order to obtain the snapping of the said projections into the holes or notches,
the opening of the door of the containment, the parting of the lateral walls of the containment and the removal of the container containing the compacted product,
the winding of the first flaps of the cover on the handles,
the discharge of the closed container.
The advantage of the method is that the container comes out of the compacting containment already closed, with less risk of contamination, especially for the personnel. Moreover, since the lateral walls are moved apart from one another before the container is removed from the containment, the latter does not risk being jammed and damaged there.